Marley's Habit

First published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Jan/Feb 2005. Also published in the collection The Spy Who Knew Nothing as Marley's Habits.
When Charles Marley runs into his old Soviet counterpart from years before, that man tells how he had run into a former asset named Vlad. Vlad had been a promising musician who yearned for the center stage but feared it even more and Marley had to wonder if Vlad agreed to be an asset to get his chance or to make sure it never came. Marley will also see that those 'questioned' by the KGB can have very long memories, and for good reasons.